Research in the field of medicine confirms that marriage increases the risk of obesity in men by three times. Researchers found that the risk of weight gain increases among both genders in the presence of marriage; however, this is particularly pronounced in men.
A scientific article on this topic will be presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Spain in May and discusses data collected primarily from couples in Poland. The community relates more to women with excess weight than to men – women are more often subjected to stigmatization.
It is suggested that women may lead a life with a normal weight but not with obesity, and they are more inclined to implement measures to reduce their weight, such as increasing physical activity or even returning to smoking. For the study, data were collected from 2,405 people from multiple national health surveys.
The results obtained indicate that both men and women become more affected by weight gain after entering marriage, increasing the risk of excess weight by 62% in men and 39% in women compared to those who are single. However, married women did not show the same tendency towards obesity as single women, unlike men.
The study also indicates that with aging, the risk of weight gain or obesity increases among both genders. Dr. Alisiya Checha-Mikolaychik from the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases in Warsaw, Poland, led the study and suggested reasons why women lack the connection between obesity and weight gain.
She noted: "At earlier stages of our analysis, we consider various hypotheses regarding the fact that women who are married are less likely to be at risk of obesity than men in marriage. One of such hypotheses is cultural differences in attitudes towards obesity."
